This present invention relates to an improvement in removing skin and pulp from avocados and more particularly to retrieving more usable pulp from the avocado for processing.
Avocados have become more and more popular for their versatility and arguable health-related benefits. They come in various varieties and sizes. For example, West Indian avocados produce enormous, smooth round, glossy green fruits that are low in oil and can weigh up to two pounds. Guatemalan types produce medium ovoid or pear-shaped, pebbled green fruits that turn blackish-green when ripe. The fruit or pulp of Mexican varieties are smaller (six to ten ounces) with skins that turn glossy green or black when ripe.
Regardless the pulp of avocados is deep green near the skin, becoming yellowish nearer the single large, inedible ovoid seed. The pulp is hard when harvested but softens to a buttery texture. Avocados are high in monosaturates and the oil content is second only to olives among fruits. Clinical feeding studies in humans have shown that avocado oil can reduce blood cholesterol.
In many cases, fruits (such as avocados) and vegetables are more easily de-skinned by the heating of these foods. Such heating does not adversely affect the flavor, texture, or appearance of most such foods. Processing avocados by first heating for the purpose of de-skinning them, however, is not nutritionally sound. Avocados are a fruit which is extremely sensitive to heat. This is particularly so in its green (chlorophyll) layer of its pulp as it lies immediately below the skin and, consequently, is subject to greatest heat exposure and nutritional loss and flavor loss. Additionally, avocado skins are particularly thick and/or rough and most processing techniques are manual or if mechanized, the apparatus is expensive, complex, and not as efficient as desired in that usable pulp is lost in the process.
Because of their popularity and growing popularity, and commercialization of avocados, a need existed to effectively and efficiently remove the pulp from an avocado for processing regardless of the size or type of avocado being processed. The prior art has numerous de-skinning or peeling machines and pulp or fruit removal machines which have been cited in this application. Most are extremely complex, somewhat cumbersome, and costly to manufacture and maintain. None is as simple as the apparatus described in my pending application nor as the apparatus described herein which is an improvement to the apparatus of my pending application. In spite of the seeming simplicity of both each apparatus, none of the prior art devices is as efficient or effective.
The objects of the presently described apparatus are to:
a. effectively and efficiently guide an avocado into a de-skinning apparatus for de-skinning the avocado.
b. effectively and efficiently de-skin an avocado and dispose of the unwanted skin.
c. effectively and efficiently remove the pulp from an avocado and retrieve the pulp for later use.
d. effectively and efficiently remove avocado skin remnants remaining on the apparatus to thereby prevent the skin remnants from mixing with the removed pulp.
e. effectively and efficiently remove pulp remnants remaining on the apparatus to thereby increase the usable volume of pulp.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the presently described apparatus. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended and presently described apparatus. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the presently described apparatus in a different manner or by modifying the presently described apparatus within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the presently described apparatus may be had by referring to the summary and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the presently described apparatus as defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.